What a Bizarre Couple Days

We have had the most bizarre weather the last few days. We had the ice storm on Sunday, I had the windows open yesterday, & snow today.
Not too much to share tonight. I have been busy listing and shipping. I will have to start acquiring again this weekend. I got a certificate in the mail for being a top rated seller - gets me a discount on fees. I volunteered at school yesterday. I did grocery shopping for the week yesterday. Dad took me to pick up my car on Monday morning. It turned out to just be the battery...yeah!
We had pottery class on Monday and we were able to get back our first completed pieces. Not very into this time around...too hard to work on my own pieces when I am helping Nick and Ellie out and the class is too short.
Mom and Dad came over for dinner this evening. I made mini veggie pot pies and they turned out great. I used my own recipe and will probably never be able to repeat it because it was a bit of this and a bit of that until the taste and consistency was right. Ellie made some cinnamon strudel muffins for us.
Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Always Interesting

It is absolutely nuts here in Chicagoland. There is a sizable amount of ice on the ground. It is raining, lightening, thundering and will be 60 degrees on Tuesday.
This morning, Rob and Ellie went to church. Nick and I stayed here and cleaned up a bit. Nick has decided he likes to clean and I wasn't going to stop him. Once Ellie and Rob got home from church we were home bound because of the crappy weather. We did some baking, made from scratch double chocolate zucchini muffins. I put away a couple baskets of laundry. Weeded out Ellie's drawers (again) of things she has outgrown. Ellie and I read for a long time...we are trying to finish this book up. The kids face timed with Mom and Dad this evening since we didn't do Sunday night dinner. We had dinner and then we all watched the movie based on the book Ellie and I have been reading. I am happy that the movie strayed away from the book because now the ending will still be a surprise.
Rob worked a conference at school yesterday...he was gone early. Ellie and Nick were going to stay at home while I ran to Salvation for a quick grab but when I went to start my car warming up - it wouldn't start. I tried a couple times with no luck. Our neighbor, Bob, tried to jump me with no luck. I called Mom and dad nicely came to our rescue. The kids had a birthday party at Jump Zone. We were able to drop them off while Dad and I came back here so dad could hear/see the car. I dropped Dad at home and borrowed Mom's car. I went back to Jump Zone and watched the kids having a great time. Nick even ate the pizza. They got the cutest goodie bags ever with handmade superhero capes and masks. We came home and the kids played until Rob got home. Rob and I attempted to jump my car with no success. I called our insurance for road side assistance...they sent out a tow truck. Shout out to Smitty's Towing in Evanston...they came out and were successful in jumping my car and even worked to clean the leads off. We drove my car to Ford so it could be first in on Monday for a battery and oil change. We stopped by Mom's house to wish Jamee a happy birthday. We went to Auroris at the high school in the evening - the dance team. It was a nice show and I know Ellie really gets inspired seeing it.
Friday, I drove the kids and the neighbors to school. The bus was running late and I had to be at school for the field trip. I haven't been to the Field Museum in decades...hasn't really changed. I had an interesting group of kids. Didn't lose any. We were all tired by the bus ride home. Rob was taping a basketball game in the evening so the kids and I baked some brownies, had dinner and a movie night. We watched a very old Muppets movie.
Thursday, I got some more things listed on ebay. Went grocery shopping with Mom and Dad. Nick had sports class in the evening and Ellie dance. We switched it up and I took Nick home and Rob took Ellie to jazz. It worked out great because I was able to come home and get dinner ready.
Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

It is Cold Outside

I am not complaining too much about the cold because I would totally rather have cold alone than cold with snow.
We all had the day off of school on Monday. Ellie, Nick and I took a drive down to River Forest to hit the Leo Dance store. Unfortunately, it is no longer a factory store and it is now just regular retail. Ellie tried on a couple pairs of jazz shoes and found a pair that she liked. We stopped off at the Unique Thrift in Brickyard - never been to that one before and I really liked it. Different element there and prices were about the same. We picked up lunch on the way to Mom and Dad's house. The kids had some craft projects they were looking to do. We had pottery in the evening. We all glazed our creations from the first couple weeks. I now know that my job for the rest of the classes will be to finish glazing the kids pieces.
Tuesday I was "fired" again from volunteering...Mrs. Breiler sent me a message that the kids would be in an assembly and she didn't need me to come in. I went grocery shopping instead. I came home and unloaded groceries and finally got back into eBay. I organized and took pictures. So, in my Pinteresting I found these things called Butler Soy Curls, they are vegan textured soy. They have no flavor and absorb the flavors you cook them in. I ordered them and they are pretty amazing. I used them to make bbq shreds and they were delish. Another shout out to The Soap Guy. I have been ordering soap from him for over 7 years and I won a contest of his last week and he sent me out a free loaf of his soap. Rob came home from work with lilies for me...because he couldn't do what he does without what I do...such a lovely treat.
Today was eBay central. I got stuff listed and took over 400 pictures. I already have bids on 1/4 of the items I listed today. Mom and Dad came over for dinner. I made tacos with the Butlers, grilled veggies, green beans and fruit and Mom brought a salad. Tacos were fabulous. Ellie made a tray of vegan brownies and I popped in some peppermint cookies. Rob was home in time to watch The Middle with us.
Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

WooHoo for Long Weekends

Not too much to share here. Everyone is off tomorrow for the holiday, so we have a 3 day weekend. Friday night, Mom and Dad took the kids overnight. Rob had a basketball game. We were going to try to have dinner together afterwards but the game ran late and most restaurants were closed by the time it was done. We had a quiet dinner here when Rob came home.
Rob came with me to my Salvation run on Saturday morning but I wasn't looking to re-build stock yet. I picked the kids up a bit after lunchtime. They had watched a couple movies and had a ball at their overnight. We got out and went to the mall to walk around and browse. It is very apparent I have a tween girl on my hands.
We were the parents for Sunday school at church this morning. Rob's co-worker, Deb, stopped by this afternoon for a visit. The kids really wanted to re-create a moment from almost 6 years ago when she was over and Kitty played a board game with them. It wasn't successful today. We met Mom, Dad, Jo, Tony and Matteo for dinner. We did a good old fashioned family outing to Kohl's afterwards.
Rob got wonderful news this past week...he has been promoted to the cable television producer at the high school. Supposed to be pretty cold here tomorrow - high is 10, I think . We are heading to try to find the ever growing Ellie some new jazz shoes. Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

A Bit of This and That

Nothing very interesting to write about this evening. I think I have finally returned everything to the stores that needed to be returned. I had some clothing I bought online over the last couple months that have been sitting on our dresser to return. I had to stop by Kohl's and Target and ended up doing a bit of shopping at both. We had pottery on Monday evening...I attempted to re purpose some old pottery into something new. It is difficult because I don't know if it will work, so I didn't want to spend a ton of time on it not knowing if it was going to work out. Rob, Ellie and Nick all worked on food creations.
I took Nick for a haircut last night and Ellie decided to get her hair trimmed, too. Both of them look very cute. Rob taped a basketball game last night, so it worked out.
Today I tackled some eBay preparation. I got all my bins out and organized them by size and label. I was able to get some pictures taken but didn't get as far as listing. Mom and Dad came over for dinner. We had baked potatoes with chili, salad and fruit. Mom made a banana blueberry bread for dessert.
That is about it...nothing snazzy to share. Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Very Nice Weekend

Did some thrifting on Thursday. I didn't have too much luck, though. Thursday night was busy...Nick and Ellie both started their after school classes. Nick is taking a sports class at the gym that provides him the basics of 4-5 sports so he can see which he might be interested in taking as an 8 week class. Ellie is back in dance and taking jazz class. It was so great that both of the classes weren't cancelled because they both met the exact minimum needed to fly.
Friday morning I went over to Mom and Dad's house and helped them get all the ornaments off their tree and then wrapped and boxed away. I came home and got all our outdoor lights down and put away. In the evening we went over to Niles North to watch the Deerfield basketball game. The kids got to listen to the live stream broadcast and got some popcorn.
Saturday morning I went to Salvation. I was just looking for some stuff for our own closets. I had a cart full of clothes at the end but my best buy was a small lamp for the backroom. I have been searching for a lamp to put on the bookshelf...so it can't be to big. I found this small white base lamp with the cutest shade. It is teal with small butterflies that are cut our of the shade and wings are dimensional. I came home and then Ellie and I went to the other Salvation and found a couple more things. We stopped at Michael's to pick up a couple things we needed for Ellie's school project.
We came home and went to work on building a boat. Ellie had to build a model of an Egyptian papyrus boat our of paper and string. The first one sort of stunk, so we threw it out and started again. The second one was far better and has set sail in a cardboard box with blue tissue paper. We ran to the store to pick up some stuff for dinner and dessert. We had dinner and watched a movie before bed.
Today, Rob went to church. With all the flu and germs out there, I stayed home with the kids. We worked and really cleaned the basement up. We finally got all the presents put away and then vacuumed the floor up. I have done so much laundry this weekend. I think I am on load 12 and because I procrastinated, I had 4 baskets to put away. I think everything is washed now...blankets, sheets, clothes & coats. We went to Mom and Dad's for family Sunday. The GGs called and had picked up some bug and didn't join us - missed them. Mom's theme was comfort food - veggie soup, noodles, grilled cheese, fruit, salad, chicken...good eats. The kids had fun playing and Nick was amazed that Matteo is now walking.
Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

House is Naked

Kids are back in school, Rob back to work and I went to work cleaning the house. I got all the Christmas put away on Monday morning. Took about 2 hours to get the tree, ornaments, decorations and odds and ends put into the boxes and then organized down in the basement. With the living room so naked, it was evident the floor was in need of cleaning. I used my black tea method and good ole cloth power and washed the living room and dining room floors. Monday night was our first family clay class. Ellie and I have taken it together for a couple years but Nick is finally old enough to join in. It was a bunch of fun to do this all together. Rob has a different appreciation for clay. Nick thought he could duplicate the project that Ellie was doing. It was nice to be back in that creative environment.
Tuesday was grocery shopping day. I got some great deals on Christmas toy clearance at Aldi and then also a cart load of things at Meijer. More than half my cart was clearance...love that. I stocked up on bath gel for $.09 a bottle - goodie bag item for the kids birthday parties. Rob was taping a game last night so Ellie and I experimented with some things in the fridge. We made a monkey bread with our bbq shreds and cheese and it came out real good. We also tried broiled grapefruit - don't knock it until you try it.
Today I did some more cleaning up around the house. Getting the kids toys back into their correct places. Vacuuming under the couch cushions and rugs. I was able to clean off the kitchen counters and get most of the holiday food away into cabinets. Mom and Dad came over for our eclectic dinner. Mom was in the mood for stuffed cabbage so she made a deconstructed cabbage casserole and banana bread. I made vegan enchilada casserole, fruit & a regular salad and Ellie requested broiled grapefruit.
It was lovely to have some down time the past couple days. I was able to get to the library and check some books out, register the kids for the winter reading club and clean the house. Looks like Friday will be the warmest day and I will pull the outdoor lights down. Wishing my goddaughter, Tara, a very happy 18th birthday. Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Last Day of Winter Break

It seriously seems like winter break from school lasted for months, but alas, the kids are back to school tomorrow.
Thursday was a busy social day. My friend, Dena, came over and we drove together to meet our friend, Laura and her girls. We met for lunch and it is nice that the kids sort of know each other now and were able to visit more. It was great to see each other and catch up. We went to the mall after lunch and let the kids run around and got to visit a bit more. Ellie and Laura's girls bought friendship bracelets...I thought that was cute. Ellie asked that evening when we were going to see her friends again.
We met Dean and Lauren and the girls for dinner on Thursday to celebrate Dean's 40th Birthday. We met at Hackney's and had a nice time catching up and visiting. The kids amused themselves playing tic-tac-toe and dots.
Friday morning the kids and I went to do a bit of shopping/returning before meeting the GGs for lunch at Northbrook Court. Ellie brought some cookies for Cathy, our waitress. It was nice to visit with the GGs and the kids got to share all their adventures from break. We got to share some of our photos, too. After lunch, we did a bit more mall shopping before heading to Target to see what was left on clearance. We went to Mom and Dad's for a little bit to play with Jo, Tony and Matteo. Teo is starting to walk now, more from person to person but look out...here comes trouble. Friday night we hung out here and watched some videos.
Saturday we did a couple odd things/jobs. I ran with the kids to the bank. Ellie and I did some shopping. I had to pick up Rob's medication at Target and Christmas was marked down to 90%...I stocked up on gift bags ans wrapping paper. I organized and cleaned off the shelves on the stairway down to the basement. We worked on putting some insulation around the garden window and putting up some new moulding. I worked with Ellie in her room to organize her new things into boxes. We went out for dinner and some family time.
Today we hung low. We got the window all back together. I went out to get some more insulation foam for Ellie's door and the kitchen door. The kids played together nicely for most of the afternoon. We went to Mom and Dad's house for dinner. Mom had a great dinner and her sense of taste is finally starting to come back after her cold. We got the kids settled into bed earlier tonight so that the morning is hopefully smooth.
I am taking Christmas down tomorrow when the kids go back to school. Probably need to get to the grocery store, too. Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Nice Start to 2013

Well, the days sure are hurrying by in 2013. On Monday, Rob went back to work. The kids and I just kind of hung out. We cleaned the house up a bit. Watched some movies. Wrote some thank you notes. Mom and Dad came over for a celebratory dinner. Neither of them are really 100% better from their colds. We had a nice dinner together and started to watch the Nancy Drew movie until Ellie started getting a bit scared and asked to finish it later. We did a countdown to 10PM instead of midnight because pretty much no one (except me) had plans to see the clock turn.
On new years day, Ellie and I ran to a couple of thrift stores. They were all running at least 50% off sales. I told Ellie we were only shopping for us...turned out we were only shopping for her. We were able to find her a couple shirts/sweatshirts, pants and a very cute purse from the Mary Poppins musical. The big score was a pair of black knee boots, which she said were very fashionable. We came home and we played all day...Legos, wii, dance marathon, cars, games. We had leftovers for dinner and finished watching Nancy Drew.
Today, Rob was back to work again. The kids and I began the day at Jump Zone and they jumped until they had no more energy. We were going to see a movie at the theater but Nick did something to his knee jumping and we headed home instead. We finished our thank you notes and Ellie finished her reading/math charts for school. We started Nick's snowman project for school. He wanted to do a pattern of snowballs and pompoms - the paper had already ripped because of the weight on the crap glued to it. We got dinner from Dengeo's and Skyped with the family in Arizona. The kids had baths and then we got them into bed.
Busy next few days ahead. I am looking forward to Monday and getting back to normal. Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree